Night driving — Illinois Permit Test

A driver must never overdrive their headlights, should keep them clean and properly aimed, and should use lights from sunset to sunrise.

Outrunning your lights means the first you see of a hazard is when it is too late to stop. Dirty lenses shorten the distance further.

Never overdrive your vehicle’s headlights, and always keep them clean and aimed properly. Lights should be used from sunset to sunrise.

Bright lights must be dimmed 500 feet before meeting an oncoming vehicle and 300 feet before passing a vehicle.

The two distances differ because the mirror throws your light back at a following driver from closer than a windshield does.

Bright lights must be dimmed 500 feet before meeting an oncoming vehicle or 300 feet before passing a vehicle.

At night a driver should dim the dashboard lights, use the sun visor to avoid glare and avoid any other light inside the vehicle.

Any light inside the car shrinks the pupil and with it how far you can see outside. A dome light is worse than dirty headlights.

Dim the dashboard lights, use the sun visor to avoid glare, and avoid using any other light inside the vehicle.

At night a driver should use the edge lines and the center lines of the roadway as guides, and should not stop on the roadway.

The painted lines are the most visible thing in a headlight beam. They are what the eye should track rather than the oncoming lights.

Use edge lines and center lines of the roadway as guides.

What does Illinois say a driver should never do at night?

Overdrive the vehicle’s headlights. Outrunning your lights means the first you see of a hazard is when it is too late to stop. Dirty lenses shorten the distance further. Illinois Rules of the Road 2026, p.87: “Never overdrive your vehicle’s headlights, and always keep them clean and aimed properly. Lights should be used from sunset to sunrise.”